Teresa Ribera, the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, has signed that she does not see in the development of synthetic fuel “the answer for what the vast majority of citizens want.” The politician has pointed out that these types of alternatives “will only work for those who have a Maserati and want something expensive.”
In an interview with the media El Correo, the minister commented on the recent controversy between Iberdrola and Repsol and explained that “thinking that any type of fuel is sustainable is not true.” Ribera assures that it is necessary to “be careful with symbolic initiatives that seek to confuse” the general public.
The third vice president has stressed that the current Executive works “in favor of the industry and reindustrialization” but clarifies the need to advance the ecological transition in this sector and “evolve towards an increasingly competitive industry due to lower use of CO2.” . .
The green transition does not imply “closing the day after tomorrow”
On the other hand, she acknowledges that if she were a rank-and-file worker in the petrochemical industry or in the manufacturing of engine components, she would be “very worried if the company’s managers put on a blindfold so as not to see what is really happening.” “Using the employment argument seems to me to be a tool to generate fear,” she says, adding that “the entire industry around the automobile must evolve.”
In his opinion, everyone understands that leaving fossil fuels behind does not mean putting up a sign saying ‘closes the day after tomorrow’, although “perhaps we will find that sign in ten years if nothing has been done before.” Questioned about a closure of the refineries, she affirms that “today it would be impossible”, but “in the long-term scenario of 2040 or 2050 it is logical to think that we are not going to need gasoline or diesel.”
Likewise, he believes that synthetic fuel “will only serve for those who have a Maserati and want something expensive.” “I don’t think it’s the answer to what the vast majority of citizens want… they may have a place but I don’t think it’s worth making a collective investment commitment of the magnitude that it seems to require,” she stated.
Regarding Iberdrola’s lawsuit against Repsol for ‘greenwashing’, the minister assures that in the United Kingdom the advertising control agency “prohibited Repsol’s advertising as sustainable or renewable.” “Thinking that any type of fuel is sustainable is not true and we must be careful with symbolic initiatives that seek to confuse citizens,” she warns. Likewise, she emphasizes that it is not possible to “call the attitudes and decisions of governments ideological, Taliban or incompetent” since “it is not true and generates irritation.”
